Foreign Exchange

Recently
I went on my first trip to Europe. It was so much fun because not only
was it my first long trip since graduating from high school, but it was
also my first trip outside of the country.  I went by myself
and had the whole thing planned out.  I did a complete
backpacking tour of all of western Europe and Italy.  

My
trip started out in England. I figured with the language barrier being
a bit thinner, I would have a much easier transition going there
first.  I went up to the north of scotland and back down the
east coast of Britain.  I had been using my American money the
whole way up until then and knew I would have to do a foreign
exchange before I took the ferry to
France.  Before I left I had used my online currency converter
to check on the money
exchange rates for the Euro and the
dollar.  While I went around the island I kept checking the us
dollar currency news to see if there was a better day when the dollar
was worth just a bit more so I wouldn't lose as much in the
exchange.  It turned out that the last day was the best
because the dollar's money
exchange rates had been doing well all
day.  So I went to a bank in London and did a foreign
exchange before heading to the seaport and my
ferry. 

When
I got over to France I began the long journey South along the coast to
portugal and Spain.  I rented bikes all along the way which
you would pick up from one point on the map and ride to
another.  When you got to the next place you would rent
another one.  

Spain
and portugal were so much fun, especially the nightlife.  I
had the most trouble with the languages inn these countries, but I
wasn't trying to learn all of the language, just the basics for
survival of a tourist.  When I set out from Spain I looked at
my finances and I was doing great. My schedule was nearly perfect and I
made it to Rome about an hour ahead of schedule. That I feel was my
strong point on this trip; my schedule was perfect.